B3: Armageddon
by Missilun
Summary: The third and final part of the trillogy. IceHawk fights his way though the Breed Battleship, and is witness to much more death and carnage. The Breed are unstoppable, and fighting them proves a difficult challange. Not everyone gets out alive.


B-3: Armageddon

**B-3: Armageddon**

Many things can go though a soldier's mind just before the point of battle, or so they say. Family and friends would be the most common; perhaps a single loved one waiting at home for their return. The brothers and sisters they fight with might be another, how many of them are going to get out alive?

With IceHawk, many more things went though his mind. Emily, still in Darwin Infirmary, the love of his life, would he ever see her smile again, would he ever gaze into her wonderful brown eyes and say those three precious words again?

His team, the living and the dead, all of them proved their worth against the Breed a hundred times over, and are about to do it all again on this single mission. How many, if any, would return to Darwin with a welcome fit for any Hero.

This was the mission, perhaps the last one before they could finally flood Earth with uncountable Grunt forces and retake it for the Human race. This was going to be a battle to remember, a few hundred Grunts against an entire army of Breed. Icehawk looked around his team all strapped into the Dropship as it shook its way through the maelstrom of a dogfight outside.

WraithoX, second in command, two rifles strapped to his thighs. He had taken to using two since they pulled Emily from the Catacombs, and seemed to favour it. One of few soldiers, IceHawk though, that had the brute strength and tenacity to lift a rifle in each hand.

RaGe, so named because of his inhuman fury. Before he even lifted a weapon he was consumed by it, every bullet that belched from his heavy Atrocity machinegun would almost seem to roar its own warcry before thundering into the metallic bodies of their Breed enemy.

Mioco, a steady moral guidance and amazing shot with her Surekill Sniper rifle. In her training she had managed to get the highest score any sniper operative had gotten in the fire range tests.

Embob, an odd name perhaps but certainly not an odd woman. Her dedication to killing the Breed rivalled even RaGe's. And even as IceHawk looked at her now, she was as beautiful as she was deadly.

M-ithran, the cocky son-of-a-someone with the grinning smirk and passion for making the team amused. A moral builder perhaps, a very useful soldier. IceHawk had doubts about him at first, but he was thankful he was wrong.

So many dead, Darkfire, Skifer, Wedgee and Lakister. Four of the nine soldiers that were given to him to command. He was unhappy with those losses, and was keen to avenge them all this next blooded and brutal hour.

And himself, IceHawk Marlus Swiftwing. Born on Earth just thirty six years earlier, joining the USC at the age of only eighteen. Meeting many brothers and sisters along the way, embryo Grunts and even a few blood born like himself. So many years of training, put into excellent use in this War. Posted to Darwin to defend Mars from the Breed invasion, the diversion invasion it turned out, and now here. Looking out the rear of the Dropship back at Darwin, perhaps the last time he would ever have the honour of looking at such a marvel. The deep brown hull plating of the brick-shaped ship. Long and stocky, the command deck on the top jutting like the conning tower of an old submarine. The very front of the ship a gaping wide hole of the flight deck.

"Sir, we are almost there, Delta and Epsilon wing report they have cleared a route for us." Wraitho broke IceHawk's trail of thought, looking at his second in command he gave a nod.

"Get the rest of the Dropships to follow suit, we have a better chance of success if we manage to take the fight deck" His short reply was simple enough. The scanners had reported that the Breed Battleship was four times the side of Darwin, and would easily be victorious in a toe-to-toe fight. Their mission was simple, land on the Battleship and find a way to destroy it before it was able to get in range to shoot Darwin. Unfortunately, they had no idea how long that was. They had already lost three of the eleven Dropships that were sent, so their forced where cut by a third already. Yes, and easy enough mission indeed, not counting the unfathomable amount of veteran Breed between them and a way of mass destruction of a metallic kind. At least it would be fun. He seemed to think that aloud for a moment, which got a few smiles from his team. So, upper flight deck of the four the Breed Battleship had, here we come.

"Touchdown in thirty second!" the voice of the pilot came through the comms of the Dropship. IceHawk was sure it was an embryo pilot, if it a real blood born then it would have probably soiled itself and steered the Dropship away into deep space by now. Thank the heavens that it wasn't.

"Alright people," IceHawk addressed his team, "we have one purpose as always, and I'm sure I don't need to repeat myself, do I?" IceHawk smiled as the other five cheered and raised an arm in salute. "Scanners say the command deck is somewhere in the heart of the ship, and as the flight desk is on the outside somewhere that means we have a hell of a lot of Breed to fight our way through!"

"Good! I hate to be home before dinner!" RaGe called out, interrupting a moment. IceHawk didn't mind, he smiled as the others laughed. He was glad to see that they could still laugh, even as any one of them could be dead before they even stepped off the Dropship.

"Thank you RaGe. Anyway, we are terribly outnumbered, so every life counts. I want no outlandish heroics please, we need to keep casualties to a minimum. Let the grunts take the flak, Darwin produces them a dime a dozen. Keep your fingers on your triggers and your guns pointed at those mechanical arseholes, and hopefully we might even get out of this alive!" He was surprised himself, even he felt in high spirits. Dead before they got off the Dropship, which was the last thought that flicked through IceHawk's mind as their starboard engine swiftly erupted in a plume of orange flame. They had been hit, quite obviously, and the Dropship was now spinning wildly out of control. Thankfully though, they had been just a few second from touching down inside the Breed ship so their uncontrolled journey was a short one. Amounting in a ricochet off the ceiling and followed by a stiff thud, upside-down, on the ground, the seat restrains releasing almost on cue and the six soldiers collapsing on the ceiling of the upturned Dropship. What joy, they were alive, all of them, thankfully. Grabbing their weapons they looked around at each other, the sounds of gunfire were already ringing outside as the other Dropships landed; the heavy loud thuds of the Human slug guns burping and thundering out their bullets, as well as the soft hisses and slips of the Breed plasma weapons. IceHawk grinned, now was their time, he broke the glass on the emergency hatch release and gave the lever a stiff yank. Explosive bolts popped and the rear hatch of the Dropship was blown off, splattering a couple of Breed under the heavy metal in the process. He was the first out, followed by Wraith, then RaGe and the two snipers, finally M-ith, shaking his head a little dazed from the rough landing. Each of them raised weapons and began to fire, the entire room had no lights, and the only light source was the blue glow from the Breed's single eye each, which made them quite easy to find in the gloom. The dead where already mounting, most of them Breed, who had formed lines and fired as the Dropships came close to the opening of their flight deck. IceHawk done a quick counts, of the remaining nine Dropships seven had landed safely, his own was upturned and the engine still burning fuel. The ninth was just a shredded burning skeleton of its former self, it had been hit hard and just ploughed through the flight deck, in its last moments it had mashed through a few dozen Breed soldiers before finally coming to a halt after colliding with a Breed Dropship and utterly wrecking that as well. Unfortunatly, it seemed, all the occupants were dead. So eight Dropships remaining, each one able to hold about ten grunts with a squeeze, eight if there was a Heavy Gunner aboard, that was an estimate of between seventy and eighty troops remaining including himself and his team. His thoughts were quickly sidetracked at RaGe bellowed an utterly terrifying roar, quickly followed by a few dozen other Grunts as they marched towards the Breed. Luckily IcewHawk had seen what why were doing, and quickly signalled to his team to back them up, there was no point shouting or using the radio as the noise of gunfire was so damn loud. On the left and right of the flight deck doors were beginning to open and more Breed began to pour in, as well as a few tanks with heavy repeating plasmaguns, anti-personal weapons. RaGe had seem them and had quickly began to move towards the right edge of the flight deck, the side on which their Dropship had landed, and pulled out his rocket launcher. Using the Grunts as a cover her knelt down and continued to fire and reload, popping off tank after tank. His skill was incredible, soon the flight deck was brightly lit with the blue plasma flames of the burning wrecks, and the Breed began a tactical retreat back through the doors. IceHawk knew that if the followed on way they would be cut up from behind by the other way, so quickly formulated a plan. And now that the noise had died down, was able to use his radio to inform the small army.

"Set explosive charges along the left doors, seal them shut. Engineers begin blow torching the doors closed with whatever you can find, use parts of the Dropships if you have to, we won't need them all to get out again." The order was quickly acknowledged and yellow and red armoured Grunts began getting to work.

The rest of the forces moved towards the right hand side, the doors had been closed already by the retreating Breed, the flight deck was theirs. But it had cost a lot of soldiers as a quick headcount would estimate sixty remaining, half of what they had launched from Darwin. No point in calling for reinforcement, there wasn't the time.

After the doors on the left were sealed the force made ranks in front of the doors on the right, engineers quickly set to opening them. As soon as the doors began to split apart the soldiers fired through the gap and the awaiting Breed returned fire and quickly regretted it as they were cut to shreds. Soon the doors were open and what was left of the defensive Breed forces was little more than a twitching pile of mangled metal. Perfect. IceHawk knew though that this was just a defence force, and quickly ushered his troops through the doors, they needed to get as far as possible before they met more resistance, which was not far. As they went through the wide corridors they found themselves in the machine bays, storing tanks and vehicles of different sizes and uses. Around them soldier Breed without weapons tinker and repaired the vehicles, that is until they were swiftly cut apart by a barrage of weapon fire.

Wraith, take a small group and check this place out, look for anything that could give us a clue as to were we need to go." Wraith nodded and geatured to a few grunts who quicly followed him to some stairs which lead up to smaller workshops.

"RaGe, grab some Heavy Gunners and see if there is any explosives or weapons we can take with us." RaGe also nodded, not even bothering to look to the Gunners that followd his as they set about searching the vehicles. A few shots were heard here and they as both splinter teams found the odd Breed hiding away from the carnage. They would be taking no prisoners today, they would kill everything that wasn't Human.

IceHawk called to the rest of the soldiers that were with him, and they made their way towards the far end of the machine hanger where a left turn faced them with a heavy set of doors, Breed writing above it which none of them could fathom. Without cue the engineers set to opening the door, and revealing the other side would bring surprise to them all. A walkway as far as the eye could see, connecting with others that crossed it. Walking out they looked down into the abyss of darkness, activating gun mounted torches and shone them down. They were above the great soldier assembly lines. Hundred, if not thousands, of Breed soldiers were being made along the lines of robotic arms and gears, the noise was almost deafening and IceHawk had to retreat back into the tankshop as his radio fuzzed something.

"Sorry, repeat that please?"

Wraith's voice came back above the din that could still be heard, "Sir, we have found what seems to be some kind of schematic of the ship, I've memorised a rough route for us to follow."

"Very good Wraith, RaGe is there with you somewhere, get him to recall those he has with him and then follow the way to meet us, let we can get to killing some Breed"

"Gladly Sir!" Wraith cut off his radio and moment later the two splinter groups returned to the main force.

RaGe's group had found a multitude of weapons; some of the heavy Grunts carried two or three on their back with one in their hand, some of them even slinging the straps of their Atrocity cannons over their shoulders. Wonderful, they had the firepower they needed and they had the route, time to get on with the mission.

After a few minutes of walking over the walkways, turning this way and that as Wraith guided them through memory, they manage to find another doorway. After opening it, they found a stairway down, as well as a thick wall of Breed resistance that was waiting for them. The initial volley of plasma fire cut apart a dozen or so Grunts, their bodies immolating with blue flame as their limbs were shredded off under the firepower, being thrown back a few feet ad deposited against the wall and floor. The remaining Grunts raised weapons and opened fire, but IceHawk paused, and gritted his teeth as a sight caught him. Wraith, his second in command, who had been leading them through the maze was at the very front, the only way IceHawk recognised his now charred remains was the pair of rifles his hands had melted around. Those bastards, those cruel metallic bastards. IceHawk growled under his breath and advanced with the rest of the soldiers, his rifle thundering with each bullet released as she pushed his way towards the front. A shot hit him on the right thigh; he simply roared and pressed on as the adrenaline quickly took away the pain. Soon enough the Breed where slain again, but only a few of the Grunts remained, that last fight had almost wiped the out. The rest of IceHawk's team, thankfully, were alive, if a little battle scared and bruised from dodging and diving away from plasma shots, a few near misses marked there armour but there was nothing major. His own pain was returning though, and he began to walk with a limp as they pressed forward with the half dozen other grunts that were left, stopping only to pick up ammo and explosives that they would need. After being so full of spirit in the Dropship, that spirit had almost withered away.

**They pressed on, what was left of them though soon found their way to the central command deck of the ship. The doors however, were closed, and sealed shut. None of the engineers had survived this far so and thus could not open it for them. IceHawk paused and thought, then looked about his team.**

**"Any ideas?" was his simple request. They all shook their heads, apart from RaGe, who just smiled. IceHawk looked at him expectantly.**

**"We could knock?" was his eventual answer.**

**IceHawk looked at him, and so did the others. But, fate delt a hand at that moment and they swiftly turned around as the doors began to slide open. A soldier stopped dead and froze, looking at the group before his head was ruptured apart by a few shots from RaGe. The team walked in, guns raised and slightly shocked by what they could see. Generals, and lots of them, immobile and plugged into the ship. However, they were larger, stockier versions with white trim to their armour instead of gold. About a dozen or so lined the semi-circular room on the curved edge, hung from the wall by plugs that connected to every joint in their body; occasionally one would twitch or mutter something in machine code. **

**The team moved in, lowering their guns again as they looked about.**

**"Each one of these will have a memory core, I want all of them removed, now" IceHawk's order was quickly carried out as each general pulled from its plugged alcove and its core removed from its head. IceHawk knew they were controlling the ship, and he knew what would happen as each was removed. Slowly, one by one, ship systems began to fail and the hulking Breed Battleship began to list sideways. Alarms began to ring, and in a few moments the entire ship would begin to loose altitude.**

**This was the plan, it would seem, and after all twelve cores had been packed into belt slots on IceHawk's team they ran as fast as they could back to the flight deck they landed on. Breed were also fleeing, and cared little about the Humans that ran with them. However, the Humans didn't care as little, and shot every single Breed on sight.**

**"Darwin Control, this is IceHawk, mission accomplished, we are returning to Darwin" IceHawk called over the radio as they reached the flight deck. Looking out the front the team could see the white swirls of cloud over the blue oceans of Earth. The ship was slowly loosing altitude, its thrusters straining to keep it up. It would only be a matter of minutes before they failed. Quickly, the team began to move to one of the waiting Dropships, the pilot still waiting obediently in the cockpit.**

**Out of nowhere there were shots, plasma fire surrounded them as their escape route was cut off. The Dropship was surrounded by breed soldiers who were firing towards the team. They were out in the open and cut off, prone, and most defiantly would be dead within moments.**

**IceHawk saw this, and would not accept his fate so easily, they had come this far, and they would not go so quietly. The team raised guns and returned fire, the flight deck gravity failing slowly as Earth's gravity began to affect them more, making it feel like they were shooting downhill. Tanks and vehicles began to slide out the machine shop and across the flight deck, narrowly missing the team who were standing their ground.**

**EmBob took a shot to her left hip, which sent her spinning off her feet and onto the floor in a crumpled heap; she uncurled herself and grabbed her sniper, gritting her teeth with pan as she began to lay deathly headshots into the Breed again.**

**M-ith was the next to go down, unfortunately a killing blow this time. A single plasma shot hit him square in the chest, his back exploded in a messy mist of purple and red as bone, muscle and organs splattered over the deck behind him as his body toppled backwards.**

**IceHawk was hit next, a blow to the knee severed the limb in half, she toppled sideways as her was almost flipped in the air, landing hard on his head, he blacked out.**

**Three months, that was all it took. After the Breed Battleship slowly descended into the atmosphere of the blue planet below it collided with the sea and was lost with the depths. It took three months after that mission to secure the planet from the Breed again. Many lives were lost in the conflict hundred of Grunts, thousands even, buried in battlefield around the world. A single monument however was erected, in central Asia, just an obelisk of metal designed to withstand the test of time. On it was etched 'Dedicated to all those died in the service of our blessed world, your names will never be forgotten.' **

**Around this, were smaller slabs of stone, standing six feet high and arranged in a circle around the obelisk, many rows were put in, on each slab where etched the named of those killed. Every single soldier killed, their names, or even the serial numbers for the embryo Grunts. They may not have been funny Human, but after what they fought through they all deserved to be remembered.**

**Emily, no longer in her medical uniform, was dressed in a soft black mourning gown and a wide veiled hat. She crouched gently in front of one of the stones and traced her fingers across a name, then lent in and placed a soft kiss to it. Soft tears ran down her cheek and she sobbed lightly for a moment. Then she stood up, and without looking up she turn and rested against a figure, who wrapped its arms around her.**

**"He never told you did he?"**

**The figure shook his head softly.**

**"He was my brother."**

**"I'm sorry my love," the figure spoke, leaning its head down to the shorter woman and pressing a kiss to her head, "he died well, I can promise you that."**

**"I know he did, he was with you, so I can trust that."**

**The figure looked at the name Emily had kissed, etched there was the name Davis 'WraithoX' Andrews.**

**Emily looked up, "Ice?"**

**The figure looked down at her dark tear-ridden eyes and smiled gently.**

**"Can we go now? I'm feeling tired."**

**IceHawk nodded and held her for a moment longer, then his arms released her, taking a hand in his he pressed a kiss to her forehead, "Yes, lets go home."**

**The two of them walked off, IceHawk limping on the fake leg that had been attached to the stump.**

**He took a look around and smiles softly at the stones. On them, he had seen, were the names of his fallen comrades. WraithoX, Darkfire, Lakister, Skifer and Wedgee.**

**And he smiled, knowing their deaths had been avenged. Earth was back in the hands of her children. Humanity.**

**Authors Notes **

**I'm sorry I took so long to write this final piece, and I am also sorry it is somewhat short. No, there will not be any more of this series, as I have other ideas in mind currently and I also have pressing matter in my life to attend to. To those who enjoyed this, thank you, I hope your own fights with the Breed scourge go well, and I somewhat look forward to hearing your won accounts of the war.**

**A thank you to all the people who allowed me to use their names here in this story, you were great friends when I knew you, and I hope you still are great friends, even though some of us have not spoken in a few years. **

**I wish everyone who reads this good hunting, and bountiful times.**

**Thank you!**

**Martin "Missilun" Hall**

**F.K.A The IceHawk**

8

By Martin Hall


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